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Colvin Run Mill is a working example of Oliver Evans' (1755-1819) automated process that revolutionized late 18th and early 19th century flour milling in America. His innovative concepts were the foundation of the modern automated industries that followed. He was granted a federal patent in 1790 on milling improvements, and by 1792 more than 100 mills had adopted his machinery. Locally, George Washington received one of the first licenses to use Evans' system in his mill on Dogue Creek in Fairfax County. -- Historic American Buildings Survey